Thursday, December 31, 2015

As we wrap up this year, I like to look back and add up all the things I have done this year. 2015 has been a fabulous year for me; at the same time, I have stressed way too much about things beyond my control... so I hope i have also learned a lot this year, and I'm ready for an even better 2016.

This is the title page of my 2015 Project Life album. (2015 editable calendar by Designs by Lili at The Lilypad)

This year I have been doing LOTS of paper scrapping, and for the first time ever I've done more paper LOs than digi.

Scrapbooking:

190 (86 digital layouts vs 104 paper)

52 cards

5 mini books

Project Life (hard to count because I had to catch up on 2014 on the first few months of the year, and now I am behind on 2015.. but let's say 52 weeks' worth - a 24"x12" spread for each week, with numerous additional inserts)

Books read:
30

Miles flown:
approximately 50,936 miles

Cities visited (i.e., stayed at least 1 night):
15

Degrees earned:
1

Awards won:
2

Newspaper interviews:
2

Pounds gained:
7+ (yikes)

Photos taken:
7,500 circa (2,700 on my phone and 4,800 on my DSLR)

Yes, it's been a good year indeed! Looking forward to a healthy and joyful 2016!

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

One more December Daily post for the year.. a recap of my 2015 album. This is my 6th year completing a December Daily album, and the first time I've bought a DD kit.

I have to say that using the kit and a mini kit add on really made it easy to put the album together without losing too much time digging through my stash. The spine of the album I chose was pretty thick, yet I was surprised that I ended filling it all up!
Most of my spreads are dedicated to a single day, with just a few instances of 2 days combined in one spread.

I also loved the approach I took this year, inspired by Ali Edwards, to focus more on the stories rather than making sure to have one Christmas-related photo per day. This has been incredibly freeing!

I had a lot of content of the kit and mini kit leftover, especially papers, so after finishing up my 2015 album on the 26th, I powered through and got my 2014 album finished too.
Last year, my December Daily album got halted by a work emergency that occurred mid-month, and after December I just didn't feel like going back to my album, which sat unfinished, with only days 1-7 completed.
But this year, after completing the 2015 album, I felt on a roll, and I was inspired to use the new supplies from this year on last year's album.

Hello! It's Wednesday and it's time for the weekly 50% off sale off select products at The Lilypad. Also, did you check out their new website?? It's really cool with lots of new features and easy to navigate!

On the back of the journaling card I detailed the gifts I got. My husband totally surprised me with an Instax mini camera!

I embellished the card from the mini kit with some stamping using a set from Ali Edwards and color theory inks.
And after the gifts, it's all about the food! :)

The card at the top is again from Jasmine Jones's mini kit, while the one on the bottom was letterpressed by me using a plate by Studio Calico.
I even assembled my Raskog card on Christmas morning. :) It's my second one, and I love to house my Studio Calico stamps!

More cards from the mini kit here. The photos were assembled using these incredibly handy photo collage templates from The Lilypad.
I hand lettered our menu, which was incredibly festive this year, courtesy of Costco! :) The alpha stickers are from Ali Edwards's December Daily kit.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Hello there! For December 24, I kept things pretty simple in my album.

Today's story is about what we did on Christmas Eve.

I used the two journaling cards for my journaling. The adorable vellum mouse is from the Lollipop Guild scrapbook kit from Studio Calico.
The date is stamped with an alpha stamp by Kelly Purkey and Emerald City ink.
The journaling card on the left is from Ali Edwards's December Daily kit, while the one on the right was from an add on from Studio Calico from a couple of years ago.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

I certainly cannot pick a single favorite spread in my album, but I do have a few that I really love.. and today's spread for December 23rd is certainly one of them.

This spread makes me so happy. I combined a lot of my favorite things here - letterpress, watercolors, stamping & embossing, and gold foil. :)Today's story is all about the gifts I bought for my family this year.

The puffy stickers and acrylic presents are from Pinkfresh Studio. The paper in the top pocket is from the December Daily kit.
In the pocket at the bottom, I stamped a floral stamp from Pinkfresh Studio right on the chipboard numbers from the December Daily kit with versamark ink, and embossed it with Powder Zing embossing powder. I love how it matches the gold foiled leaves in the previous page.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Have you heard that there is an end-of-year sale going on at Studio Calico right now (through the 31st)? Select products and mystery kits are discounted, plus you can get an additional 40% off with the code YEAREND40. And, domestic shoppers get free shipping if they spend $15+! (Note: this is a one-time use code so make sure you stock up your cart with everything you want before checking out!)

*Free shipping for economy domestic orders only that are $15 or more post sales discount. Offer ends 12/31/15 at 11:59pm EST. Not valid on previous purchases. Must enter promo code at checkout. Refunds will not be issued for misused or non-entered codes.

Well, so, even though Christmas was yesterday and I certainly got spoiled already, I couldn't pass up on these deals. Here is what I picked up:

The mystery kits are an awesome deal! I picked up 3.
I am also super excited to have picked up some things that had been in my wish list forever - the Heidi Swapp screen print kit and the WRMK alpha.
They also have an awesome deal on the Minc so I also picked up some foil!
Finally, I am really excited to have picked up the Fuse tool! It will come in super handy to customize pockets in my Project Life album!
Happy shopping!

This post contains some affiliate links. If you click on any of these affiliate links and make a purchase, then I happily receive a small commission. Thank you for your support! I purchased all the products you see and am happy to share what I make with them here on my blog.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was very nice, with family time, great food, and relaxing. I am working on the last page of my album (25th) and today I am sharing the Day 22 spread. Just a few days left of this daily blog series then. I hope you've been enjoying it!

For today's spread, I went with a non-Christmas color scheme to match the non-traditional winter weather we've had this year.

The cards/papers, overlay and enamel stars are from Ali Edwards's December Daily kit and the Jasmine Jones add on. The stamps and embellishments are from Pinkfresh Studo.

This overlay from the December Daily kit was perfect to make a fake snow scene.. Oh how I wish we got some snow for Christmas! But there was no chance this year. Booo.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas! My December Daily album is almost done.. just a couple stories more to fit in.
Actually, I almost forgot to include this story in my album.. but it's one of our Christmas traditions, and I love how this spread turned out.

Today's story is about how we watch Christmas movies throughout the month. This year it was a mix of old classics that we love and some new (disappointing) ones.

Doesn't matter how many times we've seen these movies already... they get us every time! I made a log of the movies we've seen this year using some older stamps from Studio Calico. I used Well Red and Emerald City for ink colors. I filled in the stars using Peerless watercolors (currently sold out but you can find them on Amazon too) and a water brush. Ratings are based on number of tears shed. :)

These two cards are from Ali Edwards's December Daily kit that I embellished with some puffy alpha stickers.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Hello there! How is your December Daily album coming along? Christmas Day is tomorrow, and my album is done through day 21, and I am hoping to get another couple of pages done today perhaps.

Today's story is about our Christmas wishlist.

The green card is from Jasmine Jones's December Daily mini kit, and I had my husband fill it in. The Falala card is also from that kit. The other two cards are printed out on matte photo paper. The Wish List comes from the digital set from Ali Edwards, and was filled in with my wishes. The other is a digital freebie from Life Love Paper that I recolored.
So, let's talk about what's on my wish list. :) To be honest with you, there is not much on my list that I really need. The only item I really want (and is actually under the tree right now!!) is a second Raskog cart from Ikea - I already have one that hosts my ever-growing collection of stamps, and at $29 I couldn't resist getting another one. I also a big dream on my list - a Big Shot Pro. I have a Big Shot die cutting machine that I love and use for die cutting, embossing folders, and letterpressing. I would love to upgrade to a larger size to cut directly on 12"x12" pages, but it's a bit too pricey for me, so I dream on. :)
I also am thinking about getting a tripod to shoot video on my DSLR camera. The only thing that is stopping me is that there is very little light in our house so I am not sure if I'd be able to use it much.
The stickers I used to embellish our wish lists and add our initials are from Studio Calico, as well as the acetate numbers and the green label.
The stickers I used on the left page have been in my stash for many, many years, and were the last two of the set, so I am happy to say they are finally used up. :)
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Catch up on my previous 2015 December Daily posts:Title pageDec. 1stDec. 2 and 3Dec. 4thDec. 5thDec. 6thDec. 7thDec. 8thDec. 9 and 10Dec. 11thDec. 12 and 13Dec. 14thDec. 15thDec. 16thDec. 17thDec. 18thDec. 19th

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

This is one of the few things in this year's album that actually happened this day. :) It has been very liberating for me this year not to worry to be documenting things happened on each day.

Today's story is all about baking Christmas cookies.

In the top pockets, I added some digital brushes on top of my photos.
For the bottom pocket, I printed the shortbread recipe we used directly on a paper from Ali's December Daily kit, and then added some stamping - the title (Freckled Fawn) and some ingredients (from Studio Calico). I used Well Red ink for my stamping.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Hello! Today I am sharing the Day 18 spread in my December Daily album.

This post contains some affiliate links. If you click on any of these affiliate links and make a purchase, then I happily receive a small commission. Thank you for your support! I purchased all the products you see used, and am happy to share what I made with them here.

This spread, and today's story, is all about my handmade Christmas cards this year. :) I love making cards!

I have been doing Project Life since 2012, in 12"x12" format, and will continue to make weekly 2-page spreads (24"x12") in 2016 as well. This is a project that brings lots of joy to my memory keeping. This post contains some affiliate links. If you click on any of these affiliate links and make a purchase, then I happily receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Since this will be my 5th year doing this project, I already know what works and doesn't work for me, but I am always game for some inspiration. Also, I find that having a community to share my process with is a big incentive to keep going. That's why I will be taking the Day by Day 2016 class bundle at Studio Calico - a series of 4 classes with some wonderful inspiration for the whole year.

The first class in the series is Kickstart and it starts on January 1st. My favorite part of the classes at Studio Calico is that not only you get fabulous inspiration through the lessons, but you also get access to a message board with all your fellow classmates - I find that I learn a lot from the community!

I'm excited about all of these classes, but especially the lettering one - I started dabbling into lettering this fall and even started introducing some in my December Daily album (see here and here), and I'm excited to do that in my Project Life album too!
If you sign up for the bundle, you even get a gorgeous 4"x6" stamp for free if you purchase the bundle before Dec. 31st:

Monday, December 21, 2015

This spread is another favorite - not so much for the story, but because of how I repurposed some memorabilia.

Today's Story: Every December, I make sure to go to Starbucks because I absolutely love their Frosty cookies. Love!! :)

This year, I kept the cup, thinking I may make a mini album (I did one this past fall that I loved), but ended up not doing one since the cup wasn't that inspiring. But it worked great, cut up!
I used dies from Studio Calico (circle), Papertrey Ink (sketched stars) and Lawn Fawn (all the rest).

I slipped the circle die cut with the Starbucks logo in a pocket, backing it with paper from Jasmine Jones's December Daily mini kit. I used the smaller die cuts to embellish the bottom pockets. The left one is the back of a card from Jasmine Jones's December Daily mini kit, while on the right I layered several digital brushes from Studio Calico on top of my photo. I love how festive it looks!